Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Affecting The Level Of Grief Experienced By Men Whose Female Partner Died In The United States, Keona C. Lee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Grief is an emotional reaction to the loss of a loved one through death. Although grief is a universal human experience, its perspective is unique, and research has often ignored the varied experiences of racial/ethnic and cultural groups, particularly men of color in the United States. The purpose of this quantitative study was to measure the level of grief experienced by men whose female partner died and to determine whether ethnicity, having a prior mental health diagnosis, social support, and traumatic or anticipated loss significantly impacted their level of grief. The study was guided by the social-ecological model to explain …

The Indian Supreme Court Acts On The Stray Dog Issue: Is It A Crisis Or An Opportunity? Part 1, Andrew Rowan Dphil

WellBeing News

This article examines the Indian Supreme Court’s recent intervention in the country’s stray dog issue, triggered by public safety concerns following a fatal rabies case. It outlines the Court’s initial directive to remove street dogs, the legal and welfare challenges that followed, and the subsequent modification of the order to align with India’s Animal Birth Control Rules. The piece highlights the tension between public health, animal welfare, and governance, framing the Court’s actions as both a response to crisis and an opportunity to strengthen humane, lawful stray dog management nationwide.

The Eat-Lancet Commission’S 2025 Report, Andrew Rowan Dphil

WellBeing News

The 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission Report presents a comprehensive scientific update on how global food systems can be transformed to nourish people while preserving planetary boundaries. Building on its influential 2019 framework, the Commission reaffirms the benefits of a largely plant-rich “Planetary Health Diet,” coupled with sustainable farming, reduced food loss and waste, and equitable food access. It finds that adopting such diets worldwide could prevent up to 15 million premature deaths annually, significantly reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions, and address deep inequities in food security. The report calls for systemic change across policy, production, and consumption to deliver healthier, more …

The Black Box: The Ftc’S New Ability And Incentive Test For Vertical Mergers, Ann P. Kreuscher

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Effect Of Rna Interference Of Two Heat Shock Proteins (Hspa1l, Hsp90b1) In Inducing Apoptosis In Acyrthosiphon Pisum, James Balthazor Ph.D., Griffin Davies

Chemistry Faculty Publications

RNAi in HSPA1L and HSP90B1 proteins of the unfolded protein response.

Acyrthosiphon pisum (pea aphid) is a major pest of Fabaceae (legume) crops, causing direct feeding damage and transmitting plant diseases. Conventional control relies on broad-spectrum insecticides and natural enemies, both of which can harm non-target organisms and ecosystems. RNA interference (RNAi) offers a promising, species-specific alternative by silencing essential genes via double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). This study targeted two heat shock protein Genes-Heat Shock 70 kDa Protein 1-Like (HSPA1L) and Heat Shock Protein 90 kDa beta (Grp94) Member 1 (HSP90B1)-key players in protein folding, quality control, and stress response within …

Neuronal Subtype Governs Amyloid Structure, Cellular Response, And Cognitive Outcome In Genetically Targeted App Mouse Models, Gabriella A Perez, Zoe Lai, George A Edwards Iii, Jacob M Dundee, Shannon N Leahy, Chuangye Qi, Yanyan Qi, Ye-Jin Park, Tzu-Chiao Lu, M Danish Uddin, Rong Zhao, Hui Zheng, Hongjie Li, Joanna L Jankowsky

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Pathological heterogeneity is increasingly appreciated in Alzheimer’s disease, yet we do not know how distinct aggregate conformations arise or influence cognitive outcomes. In an amyloid mouse model, we found that different brain regions formed structurally distinct Aβ deposits, prompting us to test whether neuronal subtypes shape aggregate conformation. To address this, we created transgenic mice expressing the same APP construct in either glutamatergic or GABAergic neurons. APP expression in GABAergic neurons resulted in diffuse plaques with high Aβ42/Aβ40 ratios and minimal gliosis, while glutamatergic expression produced neuritic plaques with activated glia. Despite similar Aβ levels, only mice with neuritic plaques …

Bio-Adrenomedullin Predicts Death And Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events In Cardiac Amyloidosis: A Cross-Continental Multicenter Study, Maximilian L Müller, Fabian Knebel, Katrin Hahn, Janin Schulte, Birte Arlt, Oliver Hartmann, Kaitlin M S Moore, Seiji Takashio, Yasuhiro Izumiya, Joshua D Mitchell, Kenichi Tsujita, Ulf Landmesser, Bettina Heidecker

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Bio-ADM (bioactive adrenomedullin) is a vasoactive peptide hormone that predicts clinical outcomes in heart failure-the main driver of adverse outcomes in cardiac amyloidosis (CA). This prospective observational study sought to assess the prognostic role of bio-ADM in CA.

METHODS: Patients with CA were enrolled from amyloid centers in Germany (observation cohort), Japan, and the United States (combined validation cohort). Bio-ADM was quantified using the sphingotest bio-ADM assay. Associations of bio-ADM with all-cause death and major adverse cardiovascular events over 2 years were assessed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. Likelihood ratio chi-square tests for nested models evaluated whether adding …

Intravenous Thrombolysis In Patients On Direct Oral Anticoagulants: Analysis Of The Get With The Guidelines Stroke Registry, Shadi Yaghi, Opeolu Adeoye, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is a proven effective treatment. Whether thrombolysis in patients with AIS with recent direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) use is safe and efficacious is not well established. We aimed to compare outcomes of patients with AIS and recent DOAC use who received thrombolysis to those otherwise eligible but excluded due to recent DOAC use.

METHODS: This study included patients for the GWTG (Get With The Guidelines) registry with a diagnosis of AIS within 4.5 hours from last known normal, on a DOAC, and either (1) received intravenous thrombolysis, or (2) were excluded from …

Association Between Monoclonal Gammopathy Of Undetermined Significance And Cardiovascular Disease Risk: A Veterans Health Administration Study, Tzeyu L Michaud, Mei Wang, Daphne R Friedman, Lawrence Liu, Theodore S Thomas, Kristen M Sanfilippo, Graham A Colditz, Martin W Schoen, Su-Hsin Chang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, its potential to provide additional prognostic information beyond traditional CVD risk assessments remains unknown. This study aimed to examine the association between MGUS and incident CVD and to determine whether MGUS status offers additional prognostic value beyond the established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk calculation.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, matched observational study using 2010 to 2021 Veterans Health Administration data. MGUS status, confirmed through a validated natural language processing algorithm, were 1:5 matched to individuals without MGUS. The outcome of interest was …

Durability Of The Benefit Of Vagus Nerve Stimulation In Markedly Treatment-Resistant Major Depression: A Recover Trial Report, Charles R Conway, Christopher L Kriedt, Charles F Zorumski, Hunter Brown, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Greater levels of treatment resistance in major depressive disorder (MDD) are associated with lower rates of initial benefit and higher rates of relapse (lower durability).

OBJECTIVE: Characterize depressive symptoms, function, and quality of life (QoL) over 24 months of adjunctive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in participants with markedly treatment-resistant depression.

DESIGN: Prospective, open-label, single-arm, long-term extension study (RECOVER) conducted from September 2019 to April 2025.

SETTING: Outpatient.

PARTICIPANTS: Adults with moderate-severe MDD with ≥ 4 failed antidepressant trials in the current episode, randomized to blinded, adjunctive VNS for 12 months, who subsequently received open-label, adjunctive VNS for 12 additional …

Mass Spectrometry Footprinting Reveals How Kinetic Stabilizers Counteract Transthyretin Dynamics Altered By Pathogenic Mutations, Francisca Pinheiro, Ravi Kant, Saketh Chemuru, Nathalia Varejão, Adrián Velázquez-Campoy, David Reverter, Irantzu Pallarès, Michael L Gross, Salvador Ventura

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The aggregation of transthyretin (TTR) results in life-threatening transthyretin amyloidosis. Familial forms of the disease arise from point mutations that destabilize the TTR tetramer, leading to its dissociation and/or monomer unfolding and subsequent formation of amyloid fibrils. Small molecules that kinetically stabilize the native tetramer effectively inhibit this aggregation. Although over 300 X-ray crystal structures of TTR have been determined, these data refer to a static structure and do not capture the conformational effects of mutations and ligand binding. Here, we demonstrate that hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) and fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) offer critical …

Polymer Conformational Entropy As The Driver Of Complex Coacervation, Tommaso Inzani, Giovanni Nava, Marco Buscaglia, Andrea Soranno, Alessandro Gori, Greta Bergamaschi, Samir Suweis, Amos Maritan, Tommaso Bellini

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Understanding the mechanisms leading to complex coacervation is a fundamental challenge in biomolecular sciences. Here, we explored the condensation transition and pretransitional behavior of an archetypal system consisting of polyuridylic acid chains (PolyU) and short cationic peptides in buffered aqueous solutions. By combining static and dynamic light scattering with confocal microscopy, we determined the location of the transition and the partitioning of PolyU and peptides between the coexisting phases as a function of the total peptides/PolyU ratio. We find that upon adding peptides in the system, the size of PolyU coils in the single-phase region is progressively reduced by peptide-mediated …

What Is The Psychological And Cognitive Impact Of Returning Alzheimer Disease Dementia Research Results To Healthy Research Participants? A Delayed-Start Randomised Clinical Trial Protocol For The Weshare Study (Washington University Study Of Having Alzheimer Disease), Sarah M Hartz, Spondita Goswami, Amy Oliver, Alissa Evans, Sacha Jackson, Erin Linnenbringer, Krista M Moulder, John C Morris, Jessica Mozersky

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Returning research results that indicate risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia-a disease for which no meaningful treatments or cure exist-to cognitively normal participants is controversial. AD is thought to begin many years before clinical signs and symptoms begin. During this time, individuals are cognitively normal but have biomarkers that indicate pathophysiological changes in the brain. With this study, we aim to evaluate the impact of returning research results on cognitively normal participants recruited from a longitudinal observational cohort on ageing at the Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Centre (Knight ADRC) at Washington University in St. Louis.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Our …

Beware The Lion’S Den: A School Lawyer’S Guide To Avoiding Pitfalls In The Texas Open Meetings Act, Kyle Stone

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Executive Committee - Agenda, 01/06/2026, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Executive Committee - Minutes, 01/06/2026, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Impact Of Antidiscrimination Laws On Child-Welfare Workers Working With Lgbtq Foster Youth, Heather Kesterson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth are overrepresented in the foster care system and have unique needs compared to their peers. In the state of Virginia, there is an antidiscrimination policy that protects LGBTQ foster youth; however, it is unclear how this impacts child welfare workers. Past literature has explored the needs of LGBTQ youth, the experiences of foster parents, and policy implications, but not the impact of antidiscrimination laws on child welfare workers. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the understanding of child welfare workers’ knowledge, integration, training, and implications of Virginia’s antidiscrimination …

Knowledge And Perception Of Human Milk Donation Among Pregnant, Lactating, And Postpartum Women In Rochester, Ny, And Near Hmbana Milk Banks, Samantha Allen

Theses

Human milk banks provide pasteurized donor milk for premature infants whose mothers are unable to produce sufficient amounts of milk, offering critical nutritional and immunological benefits for this high-risk population.1–4 Although 28 HMBANA-accredited milk banks operate in the United States, none are located within 4.5 hours of Rochester, NY. This study examined the knowledge and perceptions of human milk bank donation among pregnant, lactating, and postpartum women in Rochester, NY, and in communities near HMBANA-affiliated milk banks, and assessed if there is a correlation regarding the proximity of milk banks.  A cross-sectional study design was used, and participants completed a …

Powering Up Clinical Practice: Mastering Clinical Literature Search Techniques – 2026 Jan Hslic Workshop, Evelyn Wang

HSLIC Faculty and Staff Instructional Resources

This HSLIC workshop introduces practical clinical literature search techniques, focusing on how to translate clinical questions into structured database searches and efficiently navigate core resources. Topics include identifying key concepts, using Boolean operators, truncation, wildcards, phrase searching, proximity operators, subject headings (MeSH/Emtree), building multi-concept search strategies, and accessing full text through HSLIC tools and service.

Simulated Intimacy, But Real Connection: Perceived Reciprocity And Romantic Closeness Make Otome Fun To Play, Nicholas Bowman, Elena Yifei Zhao

Media Studies - All Scholarship

Otome games offer players the opportunity to form romantic relationships with NPCs. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory, we proposed that, in the context of otome game, reciprocity enhances the sense of romantic closeness with NPCs, which in turn lead to greater enjoyment and appreciation. Survey data from 293 Chinese otome players supported the model, suggesting that at least one of the reasons that otome gaming is so entertaining is that they provide players with relationships that those players engage as if they were authentically social. Descriptive results revealed high reciprocity scores and strong romantic connection with NPCs, which players feeling …

Stimulus-Driven Cerebrospinal Fluid Dynamics Is Impaired In Glaucoma Patients, Ji Won Bang, Carlos Parra, Kevin Yu, Hyun Seo Lee, Gadi Wollstein, Joel Schuman, Kevin Chan

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), partly driven by sensory stimulation, is crucial for maintaining homeostasis and clearing metabolic waste. Whether such stimulus-driven CSF flow is disrupted in age-related neurodegenerative diseases of the visual system remains unclear. This study examined the CSF flow during visual stimulation in glaucoma patients and healthy older adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In glaucoma, CSF inflow becomes progressively decoupled from the visually evoked blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) response. Specifically, the characteristic stimulus-locked CSF patterns, which decrease after stimulus onset and increase after offset, diminish with disease severity. Mediation analysis suggests this flattened CSF pattern is driven by a flatter …

Community College And School Administrators’ Perspectives On Communication And Collaboration In The Formation Of Partnerships, Shannon Stukes Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Challenges have limited the opportunities for educational institutions to support student transitions and success. The problem addressed through this study was the challenge to establish effective partnerships between community colleges and public K–12 schools in a rural county in a southern state. Grounded in Hartford’s small group theory, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine community college and K–12 administrators’ perspectives on the role of collaboration and communication, as well as the knowledge and skills needed for faculty, staff, and officials to create and sustain partnerships. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 community college and K–12 administrators. …

State Prior Authorization Prohibitions And Buprenorphine Retention Among Privately Insured Patients, Ju-Chen Hu, Shashi N. Kapadia, Hao Zhang, Ali Jalali, Kristen Underhill, Christina Andrews Ph.D., Yuhua Bao

Faculty Publications

Importance  Buprenorphine is the most commonly prescribed medication for opioid use disorder, but rates of retention in treatment remain low. Prior authorization (PA) has been identified as a barrier to the administration of buprenorphine, and patients may need multiple PAs to continue treatment; thus, many states have passed laws to prohibit the use of PA for buprenorphine in private insurance.

Objective  To examine the association between PA prohibitions and buprenorphine treatment retention overall and by branded vs generic drug status.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This cross-sectional study used a difference-in-differences design and private insurance claims data from 49 states and …

Multiple Myeloma Risk Linked To Dna Damage Response Genes, Michael Conry, Irina Ostrovnaya, Yelena Kemel, Saloni Sinha, Linda B. Baughn, Brian Avery, Kylee Maclachlan, Victoria Groner, Lauren Banaszak, Aaron Norman, Nicholas J. Boddicker, Alyssa I. Clay-Gilmour Ph.D., Shaji Kumar, Ellen Kim, Sita Dandiker, Mitul Waghmare, Susan Slager, Douglas Sborov, Judy Garber, Elizabeth E. Brown, Michelle Hildebrandt, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

Background DNA damage response genes (DDRG), implicated in several cancers as both predisposing risk factors as well as biomarkers for aggressiveness, have not been fully explored in multiple myeloma (MM).

Methods Herein, we analyzed disease associations of pathogenic variations in nine putative candidate genes using 3 446 MM cases and 323 233 cancer-free controls.

Results Increased MM risk was found to be associated with inherited rare pathogenic mutations in TP53, ATM, CHEK2, KDM1A, and ARID1A, with an enrichment of these variants among individuals with early onset or family history of MM. Individuals with TP53 or ATM germline mutations are also …

The Igvf Catalog-From Genetic Variation To Function, Daofeng Li, Shane Liu, Wenjin Zhang, Juan F Macias-Velasco, Tianjie Liu, Sarah Cody, Lucinda Antonacci-Fulton, Ting Wang, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Genomic variation between individuals is essential for understanding how differences in the genome sequence affect molecular and cellular processes. The Impact of Genomic Variation on Function (IGVF) Consortium aims to uncover the relationships among genomic variation, genome function, and phenotypes by combining experimental techniques, such as single-cell mapping and genomic perturbation assays, with computational approaches such as machine learning-based predictive modeling. The IGVF Data and Administrative Coordinating Centers collect, analyze, and disseminate data and results from across the consortium through an open-source platform called the IGVF Catalog. This resource includes, but is not limited to, data on the effects of …

Thermal Performance And Specific Energy Consumption Of Traditional Tobacco Curing Barns In Tanzania, Seuri S. Kilakoi, Baraka Kichonge, Thomas Kivevele, Mtaki T. Maagi, Jacob B. Lisuma

Tanzania Journal of Science

Traditional tobacco curing barns remain the dominant technology in Tanzania due to their low construction cost and accessibility, particularly in major producing regions such as Tabora. However, their thermal inefficiency results in excessive firewood use and environmental degradation. This study presents a field-based performance evaluation of a traditional flue-curing barn at the Tobacco Research Institute of Tanzania. Environmental parameters and fuel consumption were monitored at 15- minute intervals throughout the yellowing, leaf drying, and stem drying stages. The curing process handled 429 kg of fresh tobacco using 1,016 kg of firewood, equivalent to 16,256 MJ of energy input. The specific …

Acoustic Analysis Of Prosodic Speech Pause In Autistic And Neurotypical Adults, Rachel Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine prosodic speech pause across two groups: neurotypical and autistic young adults. Conversational speech samples were collected from 11 neurotypical and 11 autistic young adults between the ages of 18 and 26. Speech samples were subsequently transcribed and analyzed using Praat Software. The boundaries of between- and within-utterance pauses were identified, as well as acoustically determining if the pause was filled, silent, or a combination of both. Results found a significant difference in the frequency of pauses as a function of location, pause type, and neurological status. As expected, combination pauses were the …

A Phase 1, First-In-Human, Dose Escalation Study Of Jnj-80038114, A Psmaxcd3 Bispecific Antibody, In Participants With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer, Andrew Hudson, Anuradha Jayaram, Benjamin Garmezy, Nicholas Zorko, Kevin Zarrabi, Ligi Mathews, Brent Rupnow, Mengjie Li, Debopriya Ghosh, Karen Urtishak, Peter Francis, Sherry Wang, Edward Attiyeh, Johann De Bono

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has been identified as a therapeutic target for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The recent success of radioligands targeting PSMA spurred development of new PSMA-targeting agents including immunotherapy. JNJ-80038114 is a bispecific antibody that binds PSMA on tumor cells and CD3 on T cells to induce anti-tumor activity.

METHODS: This was a phase 1, open-label, multicenter study of JNJ-80038114 in participants with mCRPC and ≥ 1 prior systemic therapy. JNJ-80038114 was administered subcutaneously every 3 weeks (Q3W), starting at 0.1 mg. The primary endpoint was safety. Secondary endpoints included pharmacokinetics (PK), immunogenicity, and prostate-specific antigen …

Music Therapy Versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Via Telehealth For Anxiety In Survivors Of Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Kevin T. Liou, Joke Bradt, M. Beatriz Currier, Raymond Baser, Katherine Panageas, Jodi Macleod, Desiree Walker, Susan Q. Li, Ana Maria Lopez, Kelly Mcconnell, Jun J. Mao

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Anxiety is prevalent, disruptive, and undertreated among survivors of cancer. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the first-line treatment, but not all individuals have access, respond to treatment, or prefer this option because of stigma. Music therapy is effective for short-term anxiety reduction, but it is unknown whether it is noninferior to first-line CBT for long-term anxiety reduction.

METHODS: This comparative effectiveness trial randomly assigned English- or Spanish-speaking survivors of cancer to seven weekly telehealth sessions of music therapy or CBT. The coprimary end points were changes in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) anxiety score at weeks 8 …

Knockrbp: An Integrated Multi-Omics Database Of Functional Perturbation Profiles For Rna-Binding Proteins, Mengyuan Yang, Jiawei Li, Jiajia Liu, Xingzheng Lu, Xiaobo Zhou, Yungang Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) regulate diverse post-transcriptional processes, yet their functional impacts across multiple molecular layers remain incompletely characterized. KnockRBP (https://knockrbp.xu-bioinfo.com) is presented as a comprehensive, multi-omics database systematically cataloging regulatory changes resulting from genetic perturbation of RBPs. The resource integrates 1453 datasets from GEO, ENA, and ENCORE, encompassing RNA-seq, Ribo-seq, microRNA (miRNA)-seq, and 3'RACE-seq across 639 RBPs, 182 cell lines, and 61 diseases. Regulatory outcomes covered include alternative splicing, alternative polyadenylation, RNA editing, transcript abundance, translation efficiency, and miRNA expression, with all events processed through standardized analytical pipelines and annotated with open reading frame consequences, predicted loss-of-function impacts, and established …